1. The Oklahoma City Thunder will finish the season as the fourth seed in the Western Conference. The Thunder currently sit in the 8th spot in a grueling Western Conference but they don't need to worry about passing four teams to get in the 4th slot out West. To get that 4th seed all they need to do is catch the Portland Trailblazers for first in the Northwest Division. As division champs they would be guaranteed no worse than the 4th seed in the playoffs. Currently the Thunder sit 5 games behind the Blazers with 25 games remaining.
2. What are the 76ers playing on doing with their first round pick this year? Odds are extremely likely the 76ers will end up picking in the top 5 of this years draft once again. Let's say the 76ers end up with the 3rd or 4th pick in the draft and the best available player on the board is Karl-Anthony Towns, do the Sixers draft another big man? If they draft Towns does that mean Nerlens Noel will be moved? I understand when you're in rebuilding mode the best thing to do is acquire as many assets as possible but at some point you need to start working towards a cohesive eight man rotation with parts that gel together. A lot of the attention will be on the marquee franchises in the lottery (Lakers, Celtics, Knicks) but I'll be watching the Sixers.
3. Derrick Rose is hurt, again. Unfortunate. Rose's career is going to end up with a lot of what if talk attached to it. I'm sure we'll hear plenty of "the Bulls are done" talk during the next few days along with a fair share of the Bulls may need to move on from Derrick Rose. That comes with the territory of a injury to a player of this magnitude. For myself I won't go there. If Joakim Noah is healthy, this team still has enough to compete in the Eastern Conference Playoffs. I'm curious to see how Coach Tibs distributes Rose's 30 minutes. Obviously Aaron Brooks will see the bulk of the minutes at point guard going forward. Based on the Bulls bench, I curious to see if Coach Tibs just ups the minutes of his seven remaining rotation guys or are we going to see E'Twaun Moore get some run? Something to watch for.
4. The day after Phil Jackson tweeted his frustration with the Knicks effort, I discussed the Knicks situation with a friend. Our discussion centered around the idea that, while we both are ecstatic that the Knicks are bottoming out this season, Phil Jackson may have bit off more than he can chew in New York. What we determine the ultimate success or failure of the Jackson tenure is what he's able to do in free agency during the next 2 to 3 years.
Jackson, fairly or not, is going to be held to the standard set by another all time great coach turned team president in Pat Riley. Riley has been able to sell players on joining his teams by telling stories of how his 1980s Laker teams and 1990s Knick teams had to come together as a group to achieve the ultimate success (ie. Magic couldn't do it without Kareem and Worthy). Having read Riley's book, "The Winner Within"(while the book wasn't much for business motivation, it had some great basketball stories), it was no surprise to me when he convinced LeBron, Wade, and Bosh to commit to Miami together Jackson will have to do similar work to bring a championship to New York.
One final note on the Knicks, as our discussion was wrapping up, I tossed out the idea that who would have thought that Isiah Thomas would have been the best GM the Knicks have seen the past 15 years. We each agreed that Thomas had a great eye for talent before my friend said, "John, what about the Curry trade though?" I then let him know that those two first round picks that the Knicks traded for Eddie Curry ended up being Joakim Noah and LaMarcus Aldridge. We both conceded that perhaps Thomas was not the best GM of the last 15 years for the Knicks. Oh well.
5. The race for the 7th and 8th spot in the Eastern Conference. Right now you have six teams bunched up within 2.5 games of each other for those final 2 spots. Some thoughts on each team.
Miami - After the Drogic trade everyone is hoping to see LeBron and the Cavs vs Miami in round 1. I'd sign up for that.
Brooklyn - Could be a dangerous team if they get the line up and touches worked out. This has to be Brook Lopez's team if they're going to succeed.
Charlotte - The development of Cody Zeller and the return of Kemba Walker will determine if this team finds a way into the playoffs.
Detroit - The combination of Drummond and Monroe makes this a potentially scary team.
Indiana - The return of Paul George could make Indiana fun to watch come playoff time.
Boston - Coach Stevens has the Celtics flirting with the playoffs. How will Isaiah Thomas boost the offense going forward?
Handicapping the field going forward I'd say Miami and Detroit are the favorite to make the playoffs as well as the two teams most likely to pull an upset in the first round.
